ACCRA, March 14 & 15, 2015 – The World Bank’s Global Information and Communication Technologies Practice in partnership with the iSpace Foundation and National Instruments (NI), has organized a tw... Show More +o-day Negawatt Weekend aimed at developing the local early startup ecosystem by igniting bottom-up innovation around energy efficiency. The event, which is a mix of a “startup weekend” and “ideathon”, surfaced 14 potential solutions to Accra’s most pressing energy efficiency challenges in public, commercial, and residential buildings.“It’s a very interesting and educational program in a sense that it brings a number of stakeholders: private sector, public sector, and academia – for us to share ideas and see that responsibility for bringing energy efficiency is not one person’s job,” said Ms Lydia Sackey, Budget Director of Accra Metropolitan Assembly and a lead government counterpart for the Negawatt Challenge technical assistance activity in Ghana.Ms Cecilia Paradi-Guilford, ICT Innovation Specialist and co-Task Team Leader of the Negawatt Challenge explains the remit of the competition: “Accra is currently experiencing an energy crisis but this is not unique to this city; many rapidly urbanizing cities in Africa and elsewhere are experiencing a similar challenge. Energy efficiency can play a great role to help save energy in these cities on a household level and beyond. The Negawatt Challenge links Accra to Nairobi as well as Dar es Salaam and Rio de Janeiro in the quest to address this common challenge, and aims to contribute towards energy efficient interventions by engaging local startup and technology communities as entrepreneurial problem solvers. As experience in other countries shows, technologists and entrepreneurs are capable of creating lean, innovative, and inclusive approaches and tools to increase urban energy efficiency for their own communities and others.”14 teams took part in the event out of whom four teams were selected by a panel of judges into a 3-week boot camp offering a tailored curriculum on business, design, technical and marketing aspects of product development. At a later stage, two teams with the most viable solutions will enter into an acceleration program offering hands-on training, mentorship, peer-to-peer networking which will allow them to compete internationally with other winning teams from Negawatt participating cities: Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro. Overall, the event attracted over 70 makers, hackers, coders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and energy specialists who were tasked to tackle one of the six “challenges” on energy efficiency in the buildings sector under the following themes: (i) energy audits; (ii) demand side management; (iii) building an energy data ecosystem; (iv) financing energy efficiency projects; (v) building insulation; (vi) efficiency of appliances.The winning teams include Asor, Flip, Sun Shade, and WI.Asor focuses on demand side management offering a hardware and software solution allowing consumers to estimate power needs of home appliances and to track in real time their electricity consumption status and that of their neighborhood.Flip focuses on demand side management of energy by introducing an energy-saving and time-controlled switch for street lighting and commercial lighting in buildings.Sun Shade focuses on strengthening building insulation by offering an upgrade of a conventional shading system whereby it would absorb sun energy and reuse it to power lighting and, in the future, appliances.WI focuses on strengthening building insulation by offering a turbines cool housing unit by a process known as air exchange."A critical piece in driving efficiencies is empowering stakeholders to access key information from all the pieces of the electrical grid. National Instruments, a global leader providing powerful and flexible solutions that accelerate productivity and drive rapid innovation, is very excited to support innovation in the energy efficiency space in Ghana. We have already seen tremendous practical and impactful ideas, and remain committed to supporting the winning teams through the incubation process,” said Mr Rudi Ngnepi, Group Manager at National Instruments and lead contact for the Negawatt Challenge activities in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania."Negawatt Weekend has exposed enormous talent in the local startup ecosystem. Though only 4 teams have been selected for the boot camp, we will be giving all teams a one-month membership to keep the momentum alive, and to continue the hard work they put forth this weekend," said Ms Alison Roadburg, Programs Manager at the iSpace Foundation, Accra-based technology and co-working hub and host of the Negawatt Challenge in Ghana.The Negawatt Weekend follows the March 2nd Challenge Definition Day, which convened over 40 government and non government stakeholders to deliberate on the most pressing energy efficiency challenges and resulted in actionable input for the Negawatt Weekend participants. The government participants included a number of decision makers and technical level specialists from Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Electricity Company of Ghana, GRIDCo, Energy Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.The Negawatt Challenge is an international competition that aims to convene and empower communities around the world to innovate around urban energy efficiency issues. In addition to Accra in Ghana, the World Bank is organizing a Negawatt Challenge competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Nairobi, Kenya; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. NI is global Terrawatt Sponsor of the Negawatt Challenge, and is offering technical mentorship and training, access to NI’s development tools, and consultation with teams. NI aims to provide custom, integrated hardware and software solutions for the teams so they can build their own inventions in the field of energy efficiency. Similarly, the MIT Climate CoLab is providing an online virtual platform for participants and will host a “virtual track” to the competition that will be open to the global community regardless of location. To implement the Accra chapter of the competition the iSpace Foundation enlisted other local organizations such as the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), HubAccra, and others. Show Less -

ACCRA, March 3, 2015 – Twenty Ghanaian high-potential startups have concluded the first national bootcamp designed to promote local entrepreneurship and innovation in clean technologies. The initiativ... Show More +e was organized last week by the soon-to-be-launched World Bank/infoDev’s Ghana Climate Innovation Center (GCIC). The bootcamp aimed to identify and launch growth-oriented Ghanaian entrepreneurs and new ventures involved in developing profitable and locally relevant solutions to climate change.Several studies, including the World Bank’s report ‘Economics of Adaption to Climate Change’ and Ghana's National Climate Change Policy Framework, have stressed how significant the impact of climate change will be on Ghana’s economy, people and development. Crop yields are predicted to decline by 7% by 2050 due to higher temperatures, while sea levels are expected to rise over one meter this century, causing the erosion of 1,120 square kilometers of land.“Ghana is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and as such, its prospects for continuous growth will depend on the country’s ability to build competitive and climate-resilient industries,” said Yusupha B. Crookes, World Bank Country Director. “In line with the National Climate Change Policy, by accelerating the development of local clean technology companies the Ghana Climate Innovation Center will help reduce the country’s vulnerability to climate change, while also creating jobs and promoting investments in new clean technologies.”The twenty clean-tech companies in the bootcamp were competitively selected after a nation-wide campaign that led to almost 90 applications in a few weeks. Only the companies with the highest level of innovation, technical expertise, and potential for commercial success were invited to the bootcamp. The bootcamp consisted of an intense two-day training program designed to refine the entrepreneurs’ business concepts and a pitching contest held in front of a panel of local investors and industry experts.The bootcamp participants represented some of the most promising clean technology sectors in Ghana’s green growth agenda, including solar energy, biofuels, waste and water management.“With the support from our mentor and various experts, we asked ourselves questions that we had not previously thought about,” said Sylvia Akotia, one of the entrepreneurs who participated in the bootcamp and won one of the seven awards of the pitching competition. “Having an external perspective has helped us identify our niche, our unique proposition, and the challenges we need to address to move forward with our business.”The bootcamp is the first of a series of activities that the Ghana Climate Innovation Center will implement to support the country’s National Climate Change Policy. After its official inauguration in mid-2015, the center will provide up to 200 local companies with business facilities and a targeted suite of services that includes early-stage financing, technology commercialization, business development and capacity building support.Supported by the Danish International Development Cooperation Agency (DANIDA) and the Government of The Netherlands, the GCIC aims to assist more than 20,000 households to increase resiliency to climate change through improved access to potable water, availability of clean energy, and more sustainable agriculture techniques. Show Less -

This paper addresses the role of market
remoteness in explaining maize price volatility in Burkina
Faso. A model of price formation is introduced to
demonstrate for... Show More +mally that transport costs between urban and
rural markets exacerbate maize price volatility. Empirical
support is provided to the proposition by exploring an
unusually rich data set of monthly maize price series across
28 markets over 2004-13. The methodology relies on an
autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model to
investigate the statistical effect of road quality and
distance from urban consumption centers on maize price
volatility. The analysis finds that maize price volatility
is greatest in remote markets. The results also show that
maize-surplus markets and markets bordering Côte
d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo have experienced more volatile
prices than maize-deficit and non-bordering markets. The
findings suggest that enhancing road infrastructure would
strengthen the links between rural markets and major
consumption centers, thereby also stabilizing maize prices. Show Less -

Better data monitoringThe report also found that with a few exceptions the World Bank’s projects that were reviewed did not include air pollution control as a primary objective. As a result, these pro... Show More +jects missed the opportunity to collect critical data, and establish baselines that would help measure the success of air pollution reduction interventions that they supported. Many developing countries lack the infrastructure and standardized methods to collect and interpret data that might inform better decision-making and help set national air quality standards. Better data and systematic monitoring are necessary if countries hope to respond to pollution. Sound analytical data and monitoring of changes over time were some of the critical factors of success in Santiago, Chile, for example, where authorities implemented cleaner transport solutions that were successful in lowering air pollution.World Bank projects in Chile, Mongolia and Peru demonstrate the importance of an active dialogue with all stakeholders in developing countries; the need for integrated approaches that start with identification of all pollution sources and end with identification of cost-effective interventions; and the need to involve multiple sectors – from transport to health, urban planning and agriculture. Experience also shows that where countries have made progress in addressing air pollution, a combination of technical, policy and economic measures were effective: for example, in China, pollution discharge fees were instituted in cities, and Mexico City removed regressive and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.The future of growth in Africa and Asia will largely take place in cities. This urbanization does not have to mean that deadly polluted and un-breathable air will become the new normal. Cleaner transportation, industry, energy, construction, agriculture and waste systems, backed by stronger standards can save lives and support the cities of the future.“Improving air quality can be achieved in the face of urbanization when proactive leaders are willing to institute the right policies and investments,” said Paula Caballero, Senior Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice at the World Bank. “A nation can have clean air and healthy lungs, in addition to the economic benefits of urbanization.” Show Less -

ACCRA, 11 February 2015 – At the end of their Second Tripartite Meeting in Accra, Ghana, representatives of ECOWAS, UEMOA and the World Bank Group, have agreed on a set of priorities aimed... Show More + at significantly diversifying and transforming the economies of the sub-region. The delegates highlighted, among other things, boosting agricultural productivity and marketing; making the infrastructure sectors – transport (both road and air) and energy more efficient; scaling up efforts to eradicate Ebola and other infectious diseases and preventing violent conflicts, while implementing the sub-region’s Common External Tariff (CET) which became effective on 1 January 2015.“Since our first meeting in July 2013, we have made considerable progress in implementing an ambitious joint action plan in the six areas that we prioritized--Agriculture, Education, Trade and Trade Facilitation, Transport, Regional Investment Climate and Sahel,” notes Colin Bruce, Director for Regional Integration, World Bank Africa Region. “Over the past two days, we have had some very fruitful discussions and have identified a few transformational priorities, work programs, timelines and division of responsibilities, which would form the bedrock of our collaboration in the next two years.The Meeting flagged risks to socio-economic development, flowing from the powerful headwinds that the sub-region’s oil producers are facing as a result of oil prices falling by over 50 percent over the last four months alongside more moderate prices dips for many commodities, metals and minerals. A key priority, the delegates concluded, must be to accelerate reforms that simulate more diversified, inclusive and sustainable economic growth by unleashing the potential for private investments.An important priority highlighted is increasing the productivity of food staples two or threefold, notably by expanding access to fertilizers and certified seeds. Progress has also been made on the development and adoption of new technologies especially the use of certified seed. In this regard, the Meeting emphasized the need to assist farmers in accessing markets, as well as strengthening extension, post-harvest storage and management systems.The delegates stressed the importance of reforms to modernize transportation services in West Africa. They reiterated calls for the effective establishment of the Abidjan-Lagos Transport Authority, for the cutting of dwell times in ports and the reduction of road blocks and the time to cross borders on the corridor which handles more than two-thirds of the trade, transport and transit activities of the entire sub-region. They also applauded the decision by the Heads of State at the African Union Summit in late January 2015 to establish a Single African Transport Market for African airlines by 1 January 2017 and encourage member states to fully implement the Yamoussoukro Agreement on Air Transport.According to H.E. Kabre Desire Ouedraogo, President of the ECOWAS Commission, “There is unanimity among us regarding the liberalization of the air space in the sub-region, and a call was made for the multilateral application of the Yamoussoukro Decision. We look forward to working with member countries; some of whom have been pursuing their own national airline agendas to make this goal of a common or consolidated air transportation regime a reality.” Stressing the need for regional agreement on the maximum level of taxes and on air transport infrastructure charges as an imperative for fostering higher demand and financial solvency for airlines, the World Bank Group informed the gathering about its readiness to assist in preparing A Policy Paper on West Africa Air Transport and in providing technical support for: (i) benchmarking the system; (ii) consulting stakeholders in the industry; and (iii) reviewing aviation charges; with a view to presenting a concrete proposal to the Heads of State and Governments.The Meeting recognized that the Ebola crisis unmasked serious weaknesses in regional infectious disease prevention and surveillance systems and the delegates strongly recommitted to working to tackle any such future threat. The latest estimates by the World Bank suggest that the three countries worst hit by the Ebola crisis may lose as much as $1.6 billion - or 12 percent of their combined GDP – in forgone output growth in 2015, besides losing over 8,800 people to the pandemic. The Meeting, therefore, agreed to work closely with the affected countries to advocate for a special post Ebola debt cancelation package from all development partners.The delegates called for effective diplomacy for peace, stability and shared prosperity that is based on strong coalitions across political, security and development of communities in order to tackle a new generation of threats – drug trafficking, maritime piracy, and armed insurgents like Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, Chad, Cameroun and Niger. They also committed to keep Sahelian issues high on agenda, and agreed to continue the joint effort in the coordination and implementation of the ECOWAS Sahel Strategy.In order to scale up and consolidate the inter-institutional cooperation between ECOWAS, UEMOA and the World Bank Group, the Meeting identified the need to develop a concerted regional multi-year strategic framework to guide future collaborations. UEMOA Representative, Christophe Joseph Marie DABIRE congratulated all delegates and expressed his organization’s appreciation for the growing importance of the work of the Tripartite group. He thanked the World Bank Group for its efforts towards the development of the sub-region, particularly for its role in bringing together the Tripartite Meetings which led to the development of the July 2013 Abidjan Action Plan and re-stated the commitment of UEMOA to the common cause. Show Less -

Esteemed Presidents of ECOWAS and UEMOA, Distinguished Commissioners and Directors, fellow colleagues of the World Bank Group (WBG) and partner institutions, ladies and gentlemen.On behalf of the WBG,... Show More + I would like to thank you for this opportunity to share some reflections on four topics: (a) progress since our first tripartite in Abidjan in June 2013 and lessons for our future collaboration; (b) the changing global and regional contexts to which we must respond; (c) possible priority areas in the next phase of our partnership; and (d) proposed next steps.Since we met in June 2013, we have made considerable progress in implementing our ambitious joint action plan in the six areas that we prioritized--Agriculture, Education, Trade and Trade Facilitation, Transport, Regional Investment Climate and Sahel. Quite rightly, agriculture was number one on our list because 60 percent of the population of West Africa and 80 percent of West Africa’s poor still depends on the sector for their livelihood. The main goal of our efforts has been to increase productivity by raising the quality and improving the availability of agricultural inputs. Raising agricultural productivity would help to improve the growth elasticity of poverty reduction which is only -0.7 for Africa compared to -2.0 for developing countries as a whole. So we focused on policies for seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. As a result all the ECOWAS countries, with one exception, published regulations to improve quality and availability of seeds. We put in place electronic platforms with information on certified seeds and technologies, and began supporting ECOWAS in implementing a road MAP to transform the centers of specialization into regional centers of Excellence for Agriculture. We finalized the review of one study—on a Warehouse Receipt System and Commodity Exchange—and will shortly send to you two other studies on (a) Opening up the Markets for Input Trade in West Africa; and (b) Regional Food Staples. In addition, we provided technical assistance on Meat and Livestock Trade Facilitation which culminated in a conference in Ndjamena in December 2014.The acquisition of higher education is associated with higher earnings at the national level, for example, of 30 percent in Cameroon and Ghana, and 15 percent in Nigeria. This is the type of evidence we presented to the Board of the WBG when it approved the ambitious $150-million Africa Higher-Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) project in April 2014. The project will fund 19 university-based centers for advanced education in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo; support regional specialization among participating universities in mathematics, science, engineering and ICT; and strengthen their capacities to deliver quality training and applied research. In coming months we plan to add Cote d’Ivoire to the list of beneficiary countries, and are adapting and transferring the ACE approach to other parts of Africa.In trade and trade facilitation, we completed all agreed actions with UEMOA by December 2014, including developing modern Customs Union instruments and supporting implementation of the Bali Agreement. We are pleased with the joint work done to prepare to implement ECOWAS’s Common External Tariff (CET) which became effective on January 1, 2015, and with the technical support provided for negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).In transport, we continued to prioritize the Abidjan-Lagos corridor which handles more than 2/3 of the trade, transport and transit activities in West Africa and records traffic of about 47 million people every year. Our assistance targeted basic regional access and mobility of goods, through four main components—trade facilitation, improvement of road corridor’s infrastructure, project management and coordination, HIV/AIDS programs and `corridor performance monitoring. We are pleased that by December 2014 the number of kilometers of roads rehabilitated had increased to 65km and port dwell times came down from around 18/21 days to 12/13 days.On investment climate, five African countries were among the top ten improvers globally in the 2015 Doing Business Rankings for 2013/14. Four of them—Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal—were from West Africa. Overall, Africa accounted for the largest number of doing business regulatory reforms—75 of the 230 worldwide. And reforms are continuing. In November 2014, Presidents Ouedraogo and Soumare launched a new EU-funded project to: (i) remove regional barriers to cross-border investments; (ii) promote more transparent and sustainable investment incentives regimes; and (iii) reduce investor uncertainty by addressing unpredictable transfer pricing rules. The historic trip in November 2013 by leaders of the United Nations, WBG, African Union Commission, African Development Bank and EU was a significant milestone in fulfilling our commitment to the Sahel. The visit renewed attention to the peace and security needed to boost economic growth and lift people out of devastating poverty. During the visit, WBG President pledged $1.5 billion in new regional investments over the next two years, nearly four times our commitment during previous periods. This amount was additional and complementary to our funding through country programs. By December 2014, our Board had approved close to $800 million of priority projects in areas such as cross-border energy, social safety nets, and health services and economic opportunities for women and girls. MIGA provided $585 million in political risk guarantees in May 2014 for the Banda Gas to Power Project while the EU pledged additional support of about $7 billion over seven years. This commendable progress, on multiple fronts, is a tribute to all of you—Presidents, Commissioners, Directors, Managers, and Technical Specialists. Without your drive, commitment and willingness to collaborate, none of this would have been possible! I would also like to acknowledge the effectiveness of the Coordinating Country Director-model in this sub-region, where one Country Director steers the agenda and other Country Directors lead in particular sectors.Notwithstanding these many positive developments, our journey together is only just beginning, and there is much to learn from our successes as well as our shortcomings. These shortcomings include: (a) the absence of significant strides in air transport; (b) substantial increases in the dwell time at one major port and in the number of road blocks in some areas; and (c) an almost doubling of the time to cross a few borders along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. This is compelling evidence and a sobering reminder that modernizing transport in West Africa, as in other parts of the world, requires coordinated policy and regulatory reforms and enforcement, and not just investments in bricks and mortar.Energy remains a top priority but we must pursue areas where our partnership can add value, perhaps in the push on policies, regulation and interconnections that facilitate energy trade. The renewed interest in railways across the continent is one that we share but this agenda requires significantly more technical analysis, financial resources, and demonstrated political will to make difficult choices. As such, we have to be pragmatic, prioritize what is feasible and remain open to other possibilities as and when conditions for progress are in place.With regard to the Sahel, we must embrace the leadership of the Group of Five frontier states and stand ready to support their development priorities.We did not anticipate the Ebola crisis and the response at all levels was slower than it should have been, including by the WBG and the rest of the international community. The crisis also unmasked serious weaknesses in regional infectious disease prevention and surveillance systems. We are strongly committed to working with you and the rest of the development community to prevent and more effectively attack any such future threat. In that regard, we are currently helping the Nigerian Government to contain the recent resurgence of the Avian Influenza.Since we met in June 2013, the world and the sub-region have continued to change and we should use our discussion today to decide how the priorities of our collaboration should change in response. For several years, buoyant commodity prices (and abundant capital inflows) generated powerful tailwinds that helped support growth in the sub-region and across Africa. Those tailwinds have now transformed into headwinds: Oil prices have fallen by over 50% in the last four months, reflecting both supply and demand factors. The prices for many metals and minerals have been falling at a more moderate pace, but also for a longer period.The Ebola Virus Disease epidemic that began in a forest area of Guinea in December 2013 quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Since then, more than 22,000 probable, suspected or confirmed cases, and over 8,800 deaths, have been reported across the three countries. In addition to the huge costs in terms of lives, human suffering and anxiety, the latest estimates suggest that the three countries may lose as much as US$ 1.6 billion - or 12% of their combined GDP - in forgone output growth in 2015. Across Africa, conventional and large-scale conflict events and civil wars have been receding in scale and intensity. However, in some parts like Central-West Africa, a new generation of threats is emerging—drug trafficking, maritime piracy, and armed insurgents like Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Tuareg and Arab uprisings in Mali. Driven by exclusion, ideology and extremism, some of these threats don’t only terrorize communities, villages, women and girls, but they also challenge the authority and existence of nation states as we know them. Meanwhile, instability has increased in Libya and reportedly, this has exacerbated the supply of illegal weapons, compounded the plight of returnees and given further impetus to migration of vulnerable groups across borders. In essence, the region is facing a number of endogenous and exogenous security shocks. Given what is at stake, defeat is not an option.We must also be mindful of the reality that in 2015, the citizens of at least a dozen African countries, including four in West Africa, will go to the polls to elect their national political leaders. Some of the polls are expected to be hotly contested and turbulent, while others are predicted to bring little change. We hope, of course, that none is marred by violence on any scale.These developments aren’t all of equal importance but together, they represent serious additional risks to the sub region. ECOWAS and UEMOA have important roles to play in helping to mitigate and in some cases, eliminate these risks. At the same time, there are some opportunities, particularly for oil importing countries, which we hope ECOWAS and UEMOA will help them to seize.While broad sectoral reforms must continue and build on the progress already made, we should explore a few priorities that could significantly diversify and transform the sub-region, and reduce major threats. To introduce the discussions, we would like to propose the following five priorities: (i) Deepening our joint efforts in agriculture, (ii) Supporting the implementation of the CET; (iii) Assisting in establishing an effective Abidjan-Lagos Transport Authority and making the air transport market more efficient; (iv) Sustaining the Region’s efforts to fully eradicate the EBOLA virus and prevent the spread of other infectious diseases; and (v) Creating cross-border conditions for communities to create mutually beneficial economic opportunities and prevent conflict. This would not mean stopping other activities completely but rather focusing our joint efforts on fewer main themes over the next year. A key priority should be to accelerate reforms that simulate more diversified, inclusive and sustainable economic growth by unleashing the potential for private investments. There are some low hanging fruit from already adopted policy reforms but now the emphasis must shift to rigorous implementation. This applies particularly to policy reforms for seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. Access to adequate fertilizers and modern seeds could easily increase the yields of food staples by two or three fold in the region. ECOWAS and UEMOA should continue to work with member states on other measures like eliminating de jure and de facto barriers to intra-regional trade. This should be combined with a push to help countries develop national social safety nets that reduce the pressures for export bans and other inefficient measures aimed at improving food security. Since all countries may not be ready to move forward at the same time and pace, ECOWAS and UEMOA should also consider advancing reforms based on the principle of variable geometry. We will provide technical support for the implementation of the CET and EPA—arguably the most significant developments in trade policy in over a decade. There is, as yet, no consensus on key issues such as: (i) the revenue loss arising from the EPA and whether such losses have been adequately reflected in the compensatory package accompanying the EPA; and (ii) the impact of both the CET and EPA on domestic industries, jobs, consumers and poverty. The World Bank Group analysis for Nigeria and initial results for Ghana and Senegal showed that the EPA would benefit most manufacturing firms through lower costs for inputs and capital equipment. Most firms for which a negative impact might materialize are currently making above average profits, and the effect of the EPA would be to reduce them by a small amount. However, initial findings on the CET reform also seem to indicate that impacts from the added protection of the CET (on what are essentially core consumption products) will affect the poorest more than other segments of the population. Impacts also vary significantly by country. Ministers have requested that as implementation of the CET and EPA proceeds, the WBG should provide continued assistance in the form of country-specific and regional analysis and dialogue. We will do so. Improving the performance of the transportation system within the sub-region would boost competitiveness and productivity, and help maximize the benefits of the CET and EPA. We welcome the formal decision last March at the 44th Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Yamoussoukro to establish the ECOWAS Abidjan-Lagos corridor authority to construct and manage the six-lane highway, and establish a corridor management authority with supra-national status. We also welcome the commitment of the signatories to contribute $50m for preparatory activities under the project. There is considerable global experience in effectively structuring and managing corridor authorities, and we strongly believe that such an effective body can significantly transform West Africa. We stand ready to share international experience, mobilize financial resources, and support complementary institutional, policy and regulatory reforms to help realize this transformational impact.We are encouraged by the decision by Heads of State at the African Union Summit two weeks ago to establish a Single African Air Transport Market for African airlines by January 1, 2017. We welcome the decision by Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to open their respective air transport markets immediately and without conditions. These are steps in the right direction but more will have to be done. West Africa’s 24 million passengers/year aviation market is unbalanced and characterized by low intra-regional volumes. More than 60 percent of West Africa’s 24 million passenger traffic takes place in Nigeria; only three other countries have total demand in excess of 1 million pax/year (Ghana, Cape Verde and Senegal). Domestic traffic flows represents nearly half of total demand with 88% of them generated in Nigeria. Traffic rights with West African countries are still managed and governed by Bilateral Service Agreements which are often too constraining and protective of national carriers. As a result, air transport in West Africa is substantially more expensive than in other parts of the world, less reliable and imposes high burden on passengers and the economy as a whole. Liberalization of the air space will help, and a low hanging fruit would be the multilateral application of the Yamoussoukro Decision. There is also a need for regional agreement on the maximum level of taxes and on air transport infrastructure charges to foster higher demand and financial solvency for airlines. We call on ECOWAS and UEMOA to seize the opportunity to lead the sub-region in an initiative that would develop air transportation services that are at least comparable to those in Eastern and Southern Africa. We stand ready to assist you in preparing A Policy Paper on West Africa Air Transport and in providing technical support for: (i) benchmarking the system; (ii) consulting stakeholders in the industry; and (iii) reviewing aviation charges; with a view to presenting a concrete proposal to the Heads of State and Government at their next Summit.A more connected sub-region also needs to have better capacity to deal with infectious diseases, while supporting post-Ebola recovery in the three directly affected countries. I commend and encourage the efforts by ECOWAS and its member states to share experiences and in particular, learn from those countries that quickly contained the disease. Up to now, the World Bank Group has mobilized nearly US$1 billion in financing for the countries hardest hit by the Ebola crisis. This amount is comprised of US$518 million from the International Development Association (IDA) for the epidemic response, and at least US$450 million from the International Finance Corporation to enable trade, investment, and employment in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. IDA also created the multi-donor fund for Ebola recovery last fall, called the Ebola Recovery and Reconstruction Trust Fund (ERRTF). The ERRTF complements other Bank financial instruments in getting children back to school; establishing more secure and accurate payment systems for health workers; helping farmers acquire seeds for planting; and providing resources to upgrade rural roads, for example. We are now prepared to invest up to $300 million in building up regional health systems, including strengthening networks of laboratories for early diagnosis and facilities for treatment.Finally, a more connected sub-region needs to be a more secure sub-region to fully benefit from regional integration. We should use effective diplomacy to build strong coalitions across the political, security and development communities to help shift the current dynamic in the sub region toward more peace, stability and shared prosperity. At the recent AU Summit, African leaders agreed to send 7,500 troops to help fight the Boko Haram insurgency in north-east Nigeria, with support from the international community including the United Nations. Since May 2013, the World Bank Group has combined efforts with the United Nations and other partners in bold development diplomacy to address the regional drivers of some of the most intractable conflicts in Africa, and the poverty, extremism and local and global threats they generate. The Sahel initiative mentioned earlier was the second of the three undertaken so far. We are prepared to explore the scope for a fourth such regional initiative around Central-West Africa if there is political commitment at the regional and national levels to do so.We look forward to a fruitful discussion today that will identify a few transformational priorities, work programs, timelines and division of responsibilities. In doing so, we want to build on the model that has worked since June 2013 with minor tweaks that reflect lessons from our shared experience. We hope to discuss the highlights of our deliberations with President Mahama, the Chairman of ECOWAS, and propose to him some items for consideration at the next ECOWAS Heads of State Meeting.Our Directors, Managers and technical experts are ready to share responsibility with their counterparts to work on deliverables within agreed timelines.We would like to propose that during our Spring Meetings (the week of April, 12, 2015), we meet with Mr. Diop, Regional Vice President, to take stock of progress and further build momentum. We also hope that Mr. Diop, would be invited to participate in the next ECOWAS Heads of State Summit to help advance our agreed agenda.Colin Bruce is a Regional Integration Director in the World Bank’s Africa Region Show Less -

In reality, it is often more costly for these companies to produce their own energy than to rely on the grid. If mines can meet their demand from national or private power producers, they get reliable... Show More +, lower-cost power while becoming the long-term customer that utilities need to expand and connect people to affordable electricity.Cyprian Chitundu, the managing director of Zambia’s utility ZESCO Limited, echoed this idea as new power plants are being built in the country.“We would like to see the mining companies—which are consuming so much power—to become anchor customers to these new plants,” Chitundu said. “That makes these projects more bankable.”Ghana did this decades ago. The country built the Akosombo Dam to power a 912 MW hydropower plant, banking on the country’s aluminum smelter to be its main customer since national demand in Ghana at that time was only 70 MW. The excess power it generated has since been used by other big industrial customers, allowing for expanded electricity infrastructure for households.Ghana is a good example of what the report seeks to point out, said Nii Osah Mills, the country’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. “The gain for Ghana is that the mining companies pay a foreign exchange. That’s a critical gain. The mining companies… and all industrial firms, are paying at a rate higher than domestic (customers). So that spreads across and enables more revenue and GDP growth - all in one package.”A similar scenario, where the energy needs of mining companies can be leveraged to build up the country’s infrastructure is exactly where Guinea hopes to be in the future, said Dr. Kerfalla Yansane, Minister of Mines and Geology.“As a result of lack of electricity, the growth rate of Guinea has been, on average, about 4 percent over the last 20 to 30 years. This is harming at least half of the population. We need to have growth rates in double digits over the next 10 to 15 years… Now, we are hopeful that given the huge investment of the mining sector, they could be good customers for electricity.”Panelists also acknowledged that low commodity and oil prices may not be permanent and that it would not stop them from looking for sustainable energy solutions—a move that Anita Marangoly George, Senior Director of the World Bank Group’s Energy and Extractives Practice said the institution would be glad to support.“How do we get all of the different parties around the table?” George said. “That’s one of the convening roles that the World Bank, along with industry institutions, has played in the past and would very much like to play going forward.” The Power of the Mine report was funded by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the South African Fund for African Energy, Transport and Extractive Industries (SAFETE). Show Less -

ACCRA, February 9, 2015 – The World Bank Group, ECOWAS and UEMOA are holding their Second Tripartite Meeting in Accra, Ghana, during February 10-11, 2015, to deliberate on issues pertinent to the soci... Show More +o-economic development of the ECOWAS Sub-region. The meeting will, among other things, review the status of implementation of the Abidjan Action Plan which was agreed during their first meeting in Abidjan in July 2013, and will focus on a number of key thematic areas such as Ebola, Agriculture, Regional Infrastructure and Cross Border Management.According to Mr. Colin Bruce, World Bank Africa Region’s Director responsible for Regional Integration, “Since we met in June 2013, we have made considerable progress in implementing our ambitious joint action plan in the six priority areas of Agriculture, Education, Trade and Trade Facilitation, Transport, Regional Investment Climate and the Sahel. Given the debilitating effect of Ebola on the sub-region, we shall spend ample time deliberating on how to mitigate its impact, particularly on the three countries most affected. We will also look at how to adjust our priorities to reflect changes in the sub-region and in the World more broadly.”It is hoped that by the end of the meeting, some very fruitful discussions would have taken place to identify a few transformational priorities, work programs, timelines and division of responsibilities during the next phase of this partnership.“We look forward to deepening this collaboration between the World Bank Group, the ECOWAS and the UEMOA Commissions in addressing issues of common developmental interest to the sub-region,” reiterated H.E. Kabre Desire Ouedraogo, President of the ECOWAS Commission. Show Less -

On first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, all countries urged to make quality health coverage accessible to everyone, everywhere.NEW YORK, 12 December 2014 – A new global coalition of more than 500... Show More + leading health and development organizations worldwide is urging governments to accelerate reforms that ensure everyone, everywhere, can access quality health services without being forced into poverty. The coalition was launched today, on the first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, to stress the importance of universal access to health services for saving lives, ending extreme poverty, building resilience against the health effects of climate change and ending deadly epidemics such as Ebola.Universal Health Coverage Day marks the two-year anniversary of a United Nations resolution, unanimously passed on 12 December 2012, which endorsed universal health coverage as a pillar of sustainable development and global security. Despite progress in combatting global killers such as HIV/AIDS and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, tetanus and diphtheria, the global gap between those who can access needed health services without fear of financial hardship and those who cannot is widening. Each year, 100 million people fall into poverty because they or a family member becomes seriously ill and they have to pay for care out of their own pockets. Around one billion people worldwide can’t even access the health care they need, paving the way for disease outbreaks to become catastrophic epidemics.“The need for equitable access to quality health care has never been greater, and there is unprecedented demand for universal health coverage around the world,” said Michael Myers, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation, which is spearheading Universal Health Coverage Day. “Universal health coverage is an idea whose time has come – because health for all saves lives, strengthens nations and is achievable and affordable for every country.”For much of the 20th century, universal health coverage was limited to a few high-income countries, but in the past two decades, a number of lower- and middle-income countries have successfully embraced reforms to make quality health care universally available. Countries as diverse as Brazil, Ghana, Mexico, Rwanda, Turkey and Thailand have made tremendous progress toward universal health coverage in recent years. Today, the two most populous countries, India and China, are pursuing universal health coverage, and more than 80 countries have asked the World Health Organization for implementation assistance.“Putting people's health needs ahead of their ability to pay stems poverty and stimulates growth,” said Dr. Tim Evans, Senior Director for the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “Universal health coverage is an essential ingredient to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity within a generation.”The 500+ organizations participating in the first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day coalition represent a diverse cross-section of global health and development issues, including infectious diseases, maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases and palliative care. Across these issues, knowledge and technologies exist to save and improve lives in significant numbers, but the impact of these tools is severely hampered by lack of equitable access to quality health services.“Ebola is only the most recent example of why universal health coverage is the most powerful concept in public health,” said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation at the World Health Organization. “Investing in strong, equitable health systems is the only way to truly protect and improve lives, particularly in the face of emerging threats like the global rise of non-communicable diseases and increasingly severe natural disasters.”Events in 25 Countries Mark First-Ever Universal Health Coverage DayOrganizations around the world are calling on policymakers to prioritize universal health coverage, and are hosting events on 12 December to catalyze action, including:New York, USA: High-level event on Ebola and resilience, organized by the Permanent Missions of France, Japan, Germany and Senegal to the United Nations, in collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.London, UK: Expert panel at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine on creating resilient, equitable health systems, organized in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and Action for Global Health.New Delhi, India: High-level event on universal health coverage implementation in both India and the global context, convened by the Public Health Foundation of India, Oxfam India and the World Health Organization Country Office for India.Additional Partner Remarks"Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and investments in health systems can accelerate global efforts to ensure access to healthcare to anyone who needs it, leaving no one behind. UHC can help us galvanize progress towards achieving all the health-related Millennium Development Goals and ending preventable deaths, particularly among the most vulnerable populations – women, children and adolescents – as well as communities beyond 2015. With universal coverage, we can foster greater equity, empower countless individuals, and contribute to a life of dignity for all."-Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General“India’s health reform movement coincides with this global crusade for UHC at a crucial time, when the country’s population faces impoverishment due to rising healthcare costs, emerging and new disease outbreaks and a health system badly in need of integrated services, better access and more robust primary health care. UHC would provide an ideal framework to address many of these pressing issues in a comprehensive manner.”-Dr. Priya Balasubramaniam-Kakkar, Senior Public Health Scientist, Public Health Foundation of India“If we invest in our health systems now—which we know yields an impressive return for the investment—we can build an Africa where individuals, families, and entire nations reach their full potential.”-Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Minister of Health of Rwanda“Strong health systems that reach everyone, everywhere are crucial to fight HIV, TB and malaria.”-Mark Dybul, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria"Health care is not a commodity or privilege, but a human right."-Dr. Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former Minister of Health of Mexico“Universal health coverage secures health and well-being for women and girls everywhere.”-Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary, World YWCA“To be effective, universal health coverage requires a holistic approach to women’s health – including universal access to their reproductive health and rights.”-Katja Iversen, Chief Executive Officer, Women Deliver“The right to sexual and reproductive health is central to health for all and vital to the future we want.”-Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA"With universal health coverage Ebola outbreaks would be contained faster and more effectively."-Dr. Peter Piot, Director, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine“Universal health protection is key to fighting poverty, reducing inequity and nurturing economic growth. Sustainable development with decent jobs for all requires investment in health protection – these linkages cannot be ignored in policy development.”-Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization“Save the Children is campaigning for every child to receive the essential health care they need to survive and fulfil their potential. Robust health systems not only prevent crises like the current Ebola outbreak, but are also the foundation of efforts to end preventable child and maternal deaths.”-Jasmine Whitbread, CEO, Save the Children InternationalAbout The Rockefeller FoundationFor more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation's mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas—advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities—to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.About the World Bank GroupThe World Bank Group plays a key role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. Working in more than 100 countries, the World Bank Group provides financing, advice, and other solutions that enable countries to address the most urgent challenges of development. For more information on the Bank Group’s work in health, nutrition, and population, please visit www.worldbank.org/health. About the World Health Organization (WHO)WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, improving global health security, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. For more information, please visit http://www.who.int/whr/2010/en/. Show Less -

ACCRA, December 1, 2014 – World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will arrive in Ghana on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 as part of a mission which also takes him to the three countries most affected by Eb... Show More +ola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.In Ghana, Dr. Kim will meet with President John Mahama and other officials. Discussions will focus on Ghana’s economic challenges and the important role of key stakeholders, including government, development partners, private sector and civil society in addressing them. He will convey the World Bank Group’s appreciation to President Mahama for Ghana’s leadership role in coordinating the regional Ebola response.Dr. Kim will participate in a roundtable discussion with a group of private business leaders active in the West African sub-region to discuss the overall impact of Ebola on private businesses particularly small and medium enterprises. It is estimated that the total cost of Ebola to Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is between $3 billion – $4 billion.He will also meet with officials of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) to discuss in-depth plans for accelerating and decentralizing the response to get to zero cases.Joining Dr. Kim on the trip will be Jin-Yong Cai, Executive Vice-President, IFC; Makhtar Diop, Vice President for Africa and Tim Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice. Show Less -

IDA Credit: US $25 million equivalentTerms: Maturity = 25 years, Grace = 5 yearsProject ID: P149444Project Description: The objective of the project is to improve mobility of goods and passengers on s... Show More +elected roads through reduction in travel time, vehicle operating costs, and enhanced road safety awareness. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, November 4, 2014 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved US$25 million in new financing from the International Development Association (IDA)* to support the Governme... Show More +nt of Ghana’s effort to improve the mobility of goods and passengers on selected roads through reduction in travel time, in vehicle operating costs and enhanced road safety awareness.“Ghana has done very well to improve its transportation sector in the short and medium term and the government is now focusing its efforts on the quantity and quality of the road infrastructure, said Yusupha Crookes, the World Bank’s Country Director for Ghana. “We are excited to support the Government’s strategy for an efficient and sustainable transport system. The project will also indirectly help to ensure competitiveness, reduce vulnerability, and improve governance in the sector.”The new financing will support the ongoing Ghana Transport Sector Project which has made significant achievements. It has helped reduce the fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles by 17.9; increased the rural population to 66% who are now within 2 kilometers of an all-season classified; and increased the number of road networks in good and fair condition to 57%.“Besides constraining economic activity in Ghana and reducing the competitiveness of the country’s tradable sectors, poor infrastructure impedes the mobility of goods and passengers and creates high costs,” said Kavita Sethi the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project. “The project will improve the drainage and pavement structure of the Ayamfuri-Asawinso Road where traffic levels have gone up by more than 300% since 2005. Quality infrastructure is crucial for sustaining economic growth as the road links western Ghana, the timber and mineral rich areas, and neighboring countries to the deep water port of Takoradi.”The project contributes to the World Bank Group’s (WBG) two broad goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Rehabilitating the Ayamfuri-Asawinso road and constructing selected roads in the Accra East Corridor will improve the transport linkages to main business districts, natural resource trade routes, hospitals, and ports.The roads in the Accra East Corridor are part of a network that link the suburban areas in the eastern part of Accra to the Central Business District and to critical facilities including the Accra International Airport and 37 Military Hospital. The project will help increase transport capacity in Ghana which will lead to greater mobility of goods and passengers that will facilitate the development of economic activities and competitiveness along the corridor areas.* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing zero-interest loans and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 82 poorest countries, 40 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $16 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of commitments going to Africa. Show Less -

Ghana's economic growth picked up
in the early 2000s and has been exceptionally strong over
the past few years, with price booms of its main commodity
exports, gold... Show More + and cocoa, and the initiation of commercial
oil production in 2011. This paper examines recent
econometric evidence on Ghana's long-term growth and
evaluates its sustainability. The empirical evidence
surveyed finds that Ghana's main growth drivers were
investment, oil, and mineral rents, while government
consumption acted as a growth retardant. Based on various
scenarios for its determinants, per capita GDP growth rates
are predicted to be between 3.5 and 4.5 percent for 2014-34.
Nevertheless, the predictions are subject to considerable
uncertainty associated with the expected trends and
volatility of the drivers of growth, particularly to
sustaining investment levels and external factors such as
commodity prices and international capital flows. A growth
decomposition exercise shows that Ghana's past growth
was led by capital accumulation, which will be difficult to
sustain given the high current account deficits and the
volatility of capital flows. Hence, a switch toward a
productivity-based growth strategy, instead of the
investment-led growth strategy of the past, is the only
viable alternative to sustain the recent high growth rates.
For that, Ghana needs focus on policies that enhance
government effectiveness and public spending efficiency. To
mitigate the risk of falling into the so-called growth traps
like many other countries, Ghana must resolve its
macroeconomic imbalances and resume the institutional reform
to enhance the quality of institutions and make growth more inclusive. Show Less -

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming. I’m very happy to be back in Accra. My last visit was almost exactly a decade ago, when I was working at the World Health Organization. Today, I have met... Show More + with senior government officials, including Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, and I will meet with the UN team based in Accra – UNMEER -- that is coordinating the Ebola response. I want to especially thank the government of Ghana for taking such an important role in the response to this outbreak – by being the host of UNMEER and by setting up a humanitarian air bridge into Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. History will record the importance of what Ghana has done – that it has kept open an important link to the three countries at a time when many countries around the world have closed their borders.Today, I have an important announcement linked to the Ebola crisis. The World Bank Group will be making an additional $100 million dollars available to fill a critical gap in the Ebola response – funding to speed up deployment of foreign health workers to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.With this latest grant, the World Bank Group’s funding for the Ebola fight over the last three months is now more than $500 million dollars.In recent weeks, the international response to Ebola crisis has improved significantly. We have had some good news recently out of Liberia, involving a drop in recorded cases, although we should watch this very closely as this epidemic has had a history of surge in numbers of cases. As for the overall response, several major gaps remain and one of the largest is mobilizing enough international health teams to the three countries in order to contain the epidemic. The health workers are needed to treat and care for patients, boost local health capacity, manage Ebola treatment centers, and resume essential health services for non-Ebola conditions.Current estimates by the United Nations indicate that the three countries need about 5,000 foreign health workers to fight Ebola, who in the coming months will rotate through very difficult assignments in the expanding Ebola treatment centers, community-based care, burial teams, and laboratory services.I have just spent the last three days in the Horn of Africa, where I heard some especially encouraging news about Africa’s response to the Ebola outbreak. First, African Union Commission Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma committed to help deploy 2,000 trained health workers from African countries to the affected nations. I commend Dr. Zuma and the Africa Union for taking a leadership role in setting a firm target to bring health workers from the continent to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. And second, I heard from Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta that 600 health workers in his country have volunteered to work in the affected areas. Many more African countries also are ready to send health workers to the frontlines of this epidemic. This kind of solidarity from Africa is what will beat this outbreak. We now need to take such important pledges such as Dr. Zuma’s and turn them into action. We need to find a way to manage and train health workers for their rapid deployment to the affected areas. We need to work with the affected countries, UNMEER, and the WHO to use our $100 million dollars to help create a surge of trained health workers that we see so rarely – we saw it in the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox; we have seen it around the world in the efforts to eradicate polio; we saw it to a degree in the response to other outbreaks such as SARS and H1N1. But this surge is more complicated than any before it. This surge needs to be equal to the challenge of Ebola, and to do that it needs dedicated health workers from around the world. They are heroes, and they will meet this challenge, which is unlike any I have ever seen.I have no doubt that we can do this. We have no choice. We must contain this outbreak now.Thank you very much. I’d now like Anthony Banbury, who Special Representative to the Secretary-General and Head of the UNMEER here in Ghana, to say a few words and then I’ll be happy to take your questions. Show Less -

ACCRA, October 28, 2014— World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will arrive in Ghana on Thursday, October 30, 2014, for meetings with Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and other country officials. ... Show More +Dr. Kim will also meet with officials of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) to discuss the Ebola epidemic and its debilitating impact on the three most heavily affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – and on the West African sub-region as a whole.Dr. Kim will reaffirm the World Bank Group’s commitment to fighting the Ebola epidemic and will share the latest news on how the World Bank Group will continue to work closely with partners to assist the affected countries.The Ebola epidemic continues to spread exponentially in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It has ravaged families, health workers and communities; disrupted normal life; and led to a breakdown of already weak country health systems.If the virus continues to surge in the three worst-affected countries and spreads to neighboring countries, the two-year regional financial impact could reach $32.6 billion by the end of 2015, dealing a potentially catastrophic blow to already fragile states, according to a recent World Bank Group report, The Economic Impact of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic: Short and Medium Term Estimates for West Africa.The World Bank Group has mobilized a $400 million financing package to help the three countries hardest hit by the epidemic contain the spread of infections, help communities cope with the economic impact of the crisis, and to improve public health systems.A major obstacle to containing and stopping the epidemic is the lack of massive, rapid and coordinated deployment of health workers, especially foreign medical teams. A massively scaled and coordinated international response with qualified, high-caliber foreign medical teams is needed to set up and maintain effective Ebola treatment centers and other health facilities to support affected countries, stabilize the situation, and help prevent the further spread of Ebola, while also reactivating the provision of essential health services for non-Ebola conditions. Show Less -

This report is the most recent in a
series aimed at monitoring economic developments in Ghana
and has two sections. The first section summarizes the
recent macroeco... Show More +nomic developments in the country while the
second section presents the main findings on poverty and
employment published recently by the Ghana statistical
service. Ghanas overall macroeconomic conditions have
deteriorated further in 2014 with large twin-deficits
lingering, fueling government debt and inflation, a sharp
depreciation of its currency, and a weaker pace of economic
growth. The fiscal deficit remains the biggest source of
vulnerability in the Ghanaian economy. Preliminary figures
show the fiscal deficit was 9.2 percent of GDP in the first
half of 2014, driven by the high wage bill and rising
interest costs. The wage bill grew 25.7 percent (y-o-y)
during the first half of 2014 despite promised measures to
contain it, while interest payments reached 5% of GDP. Total
domestic revenue collections were dragged down by a
contraction in non-tax revenue while tax revenue only
increased slightly to 15.6 percent of GDP. With large
expenditures planned for the second half of the year, the
deficit is projected to be around 10% of GDP, above the
governments 8.8 percent target for 2014. A careful analysis
of the determinants of poverty and inequality, and their
interaction with labor market variables is just beginning,
as the 2013 surveys were just released. However, these
preliminary findings highlight how critical are Ghanas
policy decisions over the next 12 months to pursue more
inclusive and stable growth. Urgent efforts are needed to
build a more predictable policy environment that facilitates
diversification from capital intensive activities in
extractive industries towards more labor and land intensive
activities in the agriculture and service sectors. Show Less -

This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Ghana. To
allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides data
for... Show More + other selected economies (comparator economies) for each
indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the 12th edition in a
series of annual reports measuring the regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for
2015 Ghana ranks 70. A high ease of doing business ranking
means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the
starting and operation of a local firm. Doing Business
presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and
the protection of property rights that can be compared
across 189 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over
time. Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas
of the life of a business known as indicators. Ten of these
areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease
of doing business: starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting electricity, registering
property, getting credit, protecting minority investors,
paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor
market regulation, which is not included in this year's
ranking. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2014 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period from January to December 2013). Show Less -

WASHINGTON, September 22, 2014—As more than 120 world leaders converge on New York this week for an unprecedented UN climate summit, one highly significant voice needs to be heard. That voice be... Show More +longs to Africa. In all the global discussions around rising sea levels, shrinking rain forests, imperiled species and biodiversity, green bonds and carbon prices, Africa’s unique stake and contribution to a global climate strategy needs to be more front and center. This is only right for a continent that has contributed the least to the profound changes underway in the Earth’s climate but whose people will suffer its withering impact the most.Consider that Africa is responsible for only 3.8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions yet from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the south of the continent, African countries experience first-hand the devastating effects of increasingly severe droughts and floods and more extreme weather patterns that scorch or drown their crops. Africa’s political and business leaders are already committed to a climate-resilient growth path, yet the path promises to be bumpy. Recent World Bank research outlines a disturbing scenario for Sub-Saharan Africa in a 2°C warmer world, forecasting dramatic effects on agriculture and food production in a region where 80 percent of Africans rely on agriculture to make ends meet for their families. Consequently, we cannot separate agriculture and food security from climate change. Agriculture in Africa accounts for 30-40 percent of GDP. A 1.5°C to 2°C increase in temperature by the 2030s and 2040s will lead to a 40- to 80-percent reduction in the area of land suitable for growing maize, millet and sorghum. These cereals are the mainstay of African diets. They provide the bulk of people’s daily food intake especially in the drylands of the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. We must also amplify the links between climate change and conflict. In a groundbreaking 2013 paper published in Science magazine, economists Solomon Hsiang, Marshall Burke, and Edward Miguel argued that there is strong evidence linking climatic events to human conflict in Africa and across all other major regions of the world. The magnitude of climate change is substantial they wrote: for each one standard deviation change in climate toward warmer temperatures or more extreme rainfall, median estimates indicate that the frequency of interpersonal violence rises 4% and the frequency of intergroup conflict rises 14%.Africa’s harsher climate of the future will also change traditional livelihoods. As temperatures rise, Africa’s iconic savanna grasslands will dry up and threaten the livelihoods of their pastoral communities. Given the sensitivity of livestock—their goats, cows, and other animals—to extreme heat, too little water and feed, and disease, pastoralism as a centuries-old way of life is likely to be in danger.Rainfall patterns will dramatically change; droughts and floods will be more frequent and lead to a 3-percent expansion in total arid areas. Coastal populations in Guinea-Bissau, Gambia and Mozambique would face the greatest risk of inundation and storm surges. Coastal erosion represents a major threat as a large part of Africa’s GDP derives from activities such as fishing, tourism and trade. Entire cities and villages along the coast – capital cities and crucial deep-sea ports -- could be wiped out due to rising sea-levels. Countries such as Togo, Ghana and Mozambique could lose more than 50 percent of their coastal GDP, according to recent estimates. Sustainable management of the region’s rich natural resources—forests, water, land—can contribute to the storage of carbon, while supporting livelihoods and generating economic benefits. Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, also harbors 5 percent of the world’s known biodiversity. Before the country’s political crisis, nature-based tourism was a $500-million industry, growing at 10 percent per year. But the island is also on the list of the most climate change-vulnerable countries which will have a significant impact on its biodiversity.Africa is one of the world’s fastest-urbanizing continents. Parched rural hinterlands will steadily force people to move to already-crowded cities, creating overcrowding, stressing supplies of safe drinking water and drainage and sanitation.At the African Union Summit in Malabo, last June, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete reminded his audience that the “effects of climate change are likely to strike to the detriment of the whole continent". He added that Africa now requires in excess of US$15 billion per year to combat climate change, a figure that continues to rise.The good news is that Africa is uniquely well positioned to build resilience, especially in energy and agriculture, and has already embraced sustainability. Being green is good for business. In Kenya, small farmers are now earning carbon credits from sustainable farming. In South Africa, the city of Johannesburg recently issued its first green city bond to finance low-carbon infrastructure. In Mauritania, solar energy now powers 30 percent of Nouakchott’s energy use. In Africa, wind and solar potential can be over 1,000 GW but needs to be fully exploited.The continent has embarked on a clean power revolution that brings more electricity to people’s homes, businesses, clinics and schools. With only one in three Africans having access to energy, the task is urgent. Africa has tremendous untapped hydro, geothermal, and solar power and must be developed to provide the electricity needed to offer sustained – and green – growth for the benefit of all its citizens.The World Bank is stepping up to the challenge. We are financing transformational projects that attack poverty from multiple angles. We are supporting governments to promote “climate-smart agriculture” so that African farmers can achieve higher yields and make their farming more resilient to the changing climate. In DRC, a $73.1-million technical assistance project will pave the way to bring hydroelectric power to 9 million people. These interventions are just a starting point – not nearly enough to address the monumental energy needs of the continent. Though prices for renewables have declined significantly in the past decade, these energy sources are still costly. The green energy revolution in African cannot be achieved without financial support of the international community, to bring down the costs of adopting these clean technologies. The warning signs are clear: climate change under even the 2°C scenario is a menacing threat to sustainable development in Africa. These impacts could potentially overwhelm existing development efforts. We ignore the early warning signs at our collective peril. But, through collective action, we can ensure a climate-resilient future that benefits all Africans and the entire planet. Show Less -

Ghana is a country in West Africa with a
population of about 25 million. The country is a stable
democracy and achieved lower middle-income status in 2011
with a pe... Show More +r capita gross national income (GNI) of $1,410. The
prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Ghana is among
the lowest in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and this too
makes its status related to life expectancy relatively
better. The government made a commitment to universal health
coverage when it passed the national health insurance scheme
(NHIS) law, act 650, at the end of 2003. The law was revised
in 2012 (act 852) to bring the district insurance schemes
into a single pooled fund, thus eliminating fragmentation.
Act 650 established the national health insurance authority
(NHIA) to implement the NHIS and mandates that all residents
of Ghana enroll in one of the accredited insurance schemes.
The law does not specify consequences for failing to enroll,
nor are residents automatically enrolled, so until now the
NHIS has been operating as a de facto voluntary scheme. With
the 2003 NHIS law, the health financing system in Ghana is
now a combination of supply-side subsidies for public and
faith-based providers directly through the government
budget, entitlement-based insurance coverage financed
through a combination of earmarked taxes and individual-paid
premiums, and direct out-of-pocket payments. The report is
divided into two parts: part one gives universal coverage -
status and sequencing; and part two present lessons to be shared. Show Less -

The LIPW is just one part of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP), which recently received additional financing from the World Bank Group. The project aims to reduce poverty an... Show More +d expand social opportunities for the poorest people through public works employment and grants for poor households. “The Ghana Social Opportunities Project supports Ghana’s efforts to fight poverty in the country’s poorest regions and to ensure that poor and vulnerable households are not left behind as the economy grows,” said Yusupha Crookes, World Bank Group country director for Ghana. “This will build on Ghana’s gains in recent decades, which include reducing the poverty rate from 52% in 1992 to 28% in 2006, and help the country to make faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.”The $50 million in additional financing will be used to extend the LIPW program from 49 to 60 districts, as well as increase the number of grants from 100,000 to 150,000 poor households through the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) program. The LEAP program is designed to help alleviate short-term poverty by providing cash transfers and health insurance to extremely poor households across the country.In addition, social protection systems will be strengthened through improved targeting and the establishment of a National Household Registry, which seeks to provide a database of poor households across the country to aid the targeting efforts of all social protection programs. The registry will help expand the scope of social protection initiatives, and allow more accurate selection of households based on socioeconomic status.Janet Kundija, a mother of two, earned GHc168.00 working during the rehabilitation of Gbare-Bombaa-Yibile feeder road in Jirapa District of the Upper West Region. Kundija said she used her earnings to pay for her children’s school fees, laborers who prepared a one acre land for her soya beans and groundnut farm, and she also bought seeds and other necessities for her farm. She has also started a business of preparing and selling ‘koose,’ a local brand of doughnut made from beans, to members of her community every Sunday.At mid-year review in February 2014, a total of 298 sub-projects made up of school blocks and clinics, feeder roads, small earth dams and dugouts and climate change mitigation activities have been completed. Another 168 sub-projects are under implementation. The ongoing public works program has already exceeded the original 13,000 beneficiaries targeted, with over 80,000 people benefiting directly. Climate change public works projects have been the most labor-intensive, followed by small earth dams and dugouts, roads and social infrastructure.Both the public works and household grant programs have achieved success in reaching women; 60% of public works beneficiaries and 69% of household grant beneficiaries so far have been female, helping to empower women and increase their income.“In Sakoti in the Nabdam Distict of the Upper East Region for instance, over 180 women gave testimony of how but for their involvement in the LIPW program, they would have migrated to urban towns to engage in menial jobs such as head potter, a phenomena that is commonly referred to as ‘kayayo.’” said Robert Austin, National GSOP coordinator.In the past three years, the World Bank Group has supported 14 projects in Ghana, totaling $956 million. Of this amount, infrastructure received the most support with $316 million. Education, health, and social protection projects received $274 million, while agriculture and fisheries received $200.3 million and $130 million going to public sector management and reform. The additional financing of the GSOP will be implemented by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and will run until 2017. Show Less -